Rain
Rain is the seventh episode in season one of . Synopsis Three men commit a bank robbery that goes wrong in Chinatown which leaves two of them charred. When investigation is underway, it is discovered that the bank's manager, Joanne Cho assisted the robbery in fear of her infant daughter, Doris. When the third robber is tracked down, he is found in a pool of blood, with bloody baby hand prints leading away. Plot The CSI team is summoned to a Chinatown bank after a man who is literally aflame runs into the street on a rainy New York morning. Inside the bank, Mac and Stella discover the man's partner in the bank's vault, also burned to death. The two men were apparently in the process of robbing the bank's safety deposit boxes when one of the bank's guard's, Tony Fenn, surprised them in the vaults. Gunfire ensued, and a fire-extinguisher was hit, causing it to burst into flames. A blood trail leading out the back door indicates a third robber escaped. Neither clerk Joanne Cho nor surviving guard Marvin Hummel is able to shed much light on the robbery. The CSIs comb the scene, looking for evidence. Mac is able to dig a bullet out of the wall. The CSIs note that the robbers likely gained entrance from the empty storefront next to the bank. They waited until the bank opened and the alarms were turned off to make their move, but they were interrupted by Tony and the gunfight began, leading to explosion of the extinguisher, which set the two robbers on fire. Tony didn't survive his wounds. The realtor, Rob Bloom, claims he locked up the empty space and stopped showing it when he received a letter from the owners. Mac finds a hole in the back door and when he finds a stripped umbrella in the alley behind the store, Mac realizes that the robbers put the umbrella through the door and opened it, pulling on the handle and gaining them access Dr. Hawkes examines the first robber's body and determines he suffocated--after he breathed in the super-heated air his lungs were closed off and he suffocated instantly. Hawkes also finds something in his closed hand, which he gives to Stella. In order to get a print, Hawkes severs the corpse's fingers. Stella cleans off the items and find a small jade monkey charm and a gold clasp. There's a partial print on the clasp. Aiden and Mac view the bank's surveillance tapes, which reveal that the robbers were wearing odd masks that closely molded to their faces, making them indistinguishable from each other. Aiden hopes to get a facial match from the second robber's mask. The first robber has been identified as Carlton Hines. The randomized security deposit boxes that the robbers hit all had contents valued at ten grand or more. The robbers must have had someone on the inside. When Stella matches the print on the bracelet's clasp to Joanne Cho, the CSIs haul her in. She denies involvement, but when they learn about her daughter Doris and realize the bracelet belonged to the baby, the plot thickens. Tearfully, Joanne reveals that the robbers abducted her child and sent her a note demanding that she help them or her child would die. Stella goes over the ransom note, which is comprised on letters cut from magazines. One of the letters, an X, is missing. At her apartment, Joanne tells the CSIs that the men burst into her apartment the day before the robbery when she went out to get the morning paper. She feared they would kill her daughter if she called the police. Joanne asks if Stella thinks her daughter is still alive, but Stella doesn't have any answers for her. Danny is in the lab trying to get a handle on the trajectory of the bullets fired in the vault. He and Flack question Hummel again, asking about the shot he fired. Hummel can't remember; he says he was frightened and fired without thinking. Danny tells Flack he believes Hummel, but the evidence is puzzling and can't be dismissed. Aiden has an ID on the mask: it matches the facial structure of Luther Willett, a convict who just recently got out of jail. But when Mac questions him, Willett has an alibi. He claims he had "followers" in jail, and one of them may have modeled the mask off his face. In the lab, Stella examines the baby's sweater that the killers left behind, and finds what she first believes to be diaper residue. Back in the vault, Danny uses the laser to determine the exact trajectory of the bullets. Mac has narrowed the origin of the ransom note letters down to three magazines. Stella tells him that the substance she first believed to be diaper residue is also used to make fake snow in theater productions. Given that one of the magazines on Mac's list is Playbill the two follow the lead to a closed-down theater. A similar hole is found in its backdoor, and when Mac and Stella enter, they discover the bloody body of the third robber, with a tiny handprint in the blood. The baby was there at one time. Stella find a few long black hairs on the dead man, most likely from a woman. She also finds the missing X from the ransom note on him. The CSIs identify the dead man as Kevin Moretti, who was in jail at the same time as Luther Willett. But there's no sign of the baby. Mac fears their kidnapping might turn into a possible homicide. Dr. Hawkes tells the CSIs that Kevin died from the gun shot wound to his neck: he bled to death. Hawkes also found glass fibers in his lungs, not unlike the ones found in the lungs of people near the World Trade Centers on 9/11. But these fibers are more recent than that. A ransom note demanding $200,000 arrived at Joanne's building, and the bank is willing to front her the money so that Joanne can pay it. Despite the CSIs' misgivings, Joanne wants to pay it, so Stella and Flack drop the money in a free newspaper box and retreat to Flack's car to watch. But as soon as they spot a likely suspect--a man in a black hooded sweatshirt--police sirens erupt around them and squad cars flood the road. The suspect retreats and Stella is angry until she learns the cars were part of a police terrorist response drill. The kidnapper didn't get the money, but he did leave a mask similar to the ones used in the robbery behind, as well as a print on the newsstand handle. When they get back to the station, Flack leaves Stella to tell Joanne that they didn't get her child back. Aiden got a name from the etching to reveal what was written on the pages ahead of the second ransom note: Nina Chang. Using a partial zip code from the back of the letter X from the note, the location of construction sites that could have been responsible for the glass deposits in Kevin's lungs, and a gang symbol on a bag of drugs found on Kevin, the CSIs narrow forty-five Nina Changs down to one. The CSIs go to her apartment, but there's no sign of the baby. After they present her with the evidence, Nina admits to helping Kevin, and admits that she left him at the theater to avoid being implicated in the crime. She doesn't know where the baby is. Mac has he write down the pledge of allegiance to get a sample of her writing. It's a match for the ransom note to Joanne and for the note Bloom received telling him to stop showing the empty storefront next to the bank. A frustrated Danny is continuing to go over the bullets and casings. He can't make any logical sense of the bullet fired from Hummel's gun. When Mac matches the partial to Hummel, it all falls into place. Danny and Flack pick him up and find the baby at his apartment. Mac quickly breaks down Hummel's story: Hummel shot at the wall to make it look like he wasn't part of the robbery. Mac tells Hummel that no one might have ever learned of his involvement had he not insisted on ransoming the baby. Stella returns the baby to a grateful Joanne. Cast Main Cast *Gary Sinise as Mac Taylor *Melina Kanakaredes as Stella Bonasera *Carmine Giovinazzo as Danny Messer *Vanessa Ferlito as Aiden Burn *Hill Harper as Sheldon Hawkes *Eddie Cahill as Don Flack Guest Cast *J. Scott Shonka as Handyman *Andre Ware as Tony Fenn *Mark Kelly as Rob Bloom *Kym Hoy as Nina Chang *Alex Sol as Luther Willett *Matt Bushell as Marvin Hummel *Samantha Quan as Joanne Cho *David Guzzone as Kevin Moretti Quotes :Stella: With all this rain, it's not like Mother Nature's playing ball. :Mac: Then it's time to change the game. Music *'Twilight' by Aphrodite. Trivia *The baby was born in the Year of the Monkey and was 11 months old. Chinese New Year for the Year of the Monkey started January 22, 2004. In order for the baby to be 11 months old, this episode, shown in mid-November, must take place after December 22. See Also 108 Category:CSI: NY Season 1